How sweet, fresh meat. No, we’re not channeling Freddy Krueger; instead, think Crazy Eyes from “Orange Is the New Black”.  Thursday morning’s nominations announcement brought a welcome infusion of new contenders from Netflix’s “Orange” into the running for The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, joining its platform sibling “House of Cards” in securing a foothold in each of the major category races.

“House of Cards” is going up against “Breaking Bad”, “Game of Thrones” ,“Mad Men” “Downton Abbey” and “True Detective” in the Outstanding Drama Series contest, while “Orange Is the New Black” received a nod for Outstanding Comedy Series, along with “The Big Bang Theory” , “Louie”, “Modern Family” , surprise nominee “Silicon Valley”  and “Veep”.

When you include “Cards” stars  Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright‘s individual Drama performance nominations, “Orange” lead Taylor Schilling‘s Best Actress in a Comedy hat tip, and the Best Comedy Actor nod for “Derek’s” Ricky Gervais , this means Netflix’s series have edged out major traditional platform contenders that mere hours ago were considered to be shoo-ins for nominations. Streaming is effectively the new cable when it comes to attracting Emmy’s attention. Notice that out of all of the nominees in Best Drama, only “Downton Abbey” airs on broadcast television.

Having said that, Netflix still has some catching up to do with traditional broadcasters in terms of overall nominations. Once again HBO tops the pack by scoring 99 nods overall, as CBS comes in second with 47 to NBC’s 46.  FX snagged 45, ABC received 37 and and PBS can boast of 34 nominations. Netflix received 31 nominations — still ahead of AMC’s 26, it must be noted, and Showtime’s 24.

“Game of Thrones” earned the most nominations of any series with 19. FX’s “Fargo“ pulled in 18, including a nod for Outstanding Miniseries. (A full list of Primetime Emmy nominees can be found in our Road to the Emmys section.)

The competition seems especially fierce this year in the major categories. In the Best Actor in a Drama category, Spacey must contend with the expected face-off between “True Detective’s” duo Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson (although some would say that this race is McConaughey’s to lose) along with Jon Hamm for “Mad Men” (his 10th Emmy nomination), Jeff Daniels for “The Newsroom”, and Bryan Cranston for his final season run on “Breaking Bad”. Wright joins “Scandal’s” Kerry Washington in the Lead Actress in a Drama category, as well as “Downton Abbey’s” Michelle Dockery, “The Good Wife’s” Julianna Margulies, “Homeland’s” Claire Danes and “Masters of Sex” star Lizzy Caplan – a welcome addition to this race.

Rounding out the Lead Actress in a Comedy Series race are Amy Poehler for “Parks and Recreation”, Lena Dunham for “Girls” , and a trio of former winners: Edie Falco for “Nurse Jackie” , Julia Louis-Dreyfus for “Veep” and Melissa McCarthy for “Mike & Molly” . The Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category is a gallery of the usual suspects: Don Cheadle for “House of Lies” , Louis C.K. for “Louie”, Matt LeBlanc for “Episodes” , Ricky Gervais for “Derek” and multiple-Emmy winner Jim Parsons for “The Big Bang Theory”. William H. Macy  also received a nod here, his first for “Shameless” but his eighth nomination historically speaking.

However, Emmys morning would not be complete without snubs a-plenty, including the lack of a Lead Actress in a Drama nod for “Orphan Black‘s” Tatiana Maslany. (Honestly, how many more clones does she have to convincingly play before Emmy takes notice?) No Lead Actor love for “Masters of Sex” star Michael Sheen, either, or James Spader for “The Blacklist“. No recognition for “Scandal’s” Bellamy Young, who made the awful First Lady Mellie Grant actually kind of likable.

No Outstanding Drama nominations for “The Good Wife” after one of its fiercest seasons, or for Showtime’s excellent “Masters of Sex“! Nothing for FX’s “The Americans” — nothing! And no big category comedy nods for any of the Fox comedies or its stars, particularly “The Mindy Project’s” Mindy Kaling or “Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s” Andy Samberg, who won the Golden Globe for Lead Comedy Actor. That said, cheers to “Brooklyn” co-star Andre Braugher for scoring a nod in the Comedy Supporting Actor category, where he’s up against Ty Burrell and Jesse Tyler Ferguson for “Modern Family” , Adam Driver for “Girls”, Tony Hale for “Veep”, and fellow dark horse Fred Armisen for “Portlandia”.

There are also interesting races brewing in categories that aren’t traditionally seen as “hot”, including the individual performances cited in the Miniseries or Movie acting categories. Miniseries and movies themselves contend in separate races. However, the actors and actresses in each of them are thrown together in big category stewpots, which can create some truly strange competition in some cases. Look at the lineup for Lead Actress in a Movie or Miniseries: Kristen Wiig is a fun surprise here thanks to her work in IFC’s  “The Spoils of Babylon”, but we also have  “American Horror Story’s”‘ Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson going up against  Helena Bonham Carter for Burton and Taylor , Minnie Driver for Return to Zero , and Cicely Tyson for The Trip to Bountiful. In what world does this match-up make sense, other than Emmy’s?

Then consider the tight race for Lead Actor in a Movie or Miniseries, which has Idris Elba for “Luther”, Chiwetel Ejiofor for “Dancing on the Edge” , Benedict Cumberbatch for “Sherlock: His Last Vow , Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton for “Fargo” , and Mark Ruffalo for The Normal Heart . Though Thornton and Ruffalo are likely favorites here — Freeman has another chance, with his Movie/Miniseries Supporting nod for “Sherlock” — Cumberbatch and Elba could actually upset the cart, as could the longshot of the bunch, Ejiofor.

Then again, some of these contenders in odd categories are examples of Emmy gamesmanship. “American Horror Story”, which is going into its fourth season,  is a miniseries because FX says it is. Ditto for “Fargo,” if it comes back with a new cast and a new crime (which is highly likely). This brings us back to Crazy Eyes: if there is a category loaded in favor of “Orange is the New Black“, it’s the Guest Actress in a Comedy race, in which three of the show’s standout ensemble players, Uzo Aduba, Natasha Lyonne, and Laverne Cox (who is making history as Emmy’s first transgender acting nominee) received nominations. This puts them up against contenders that fit the more traditional idea of a guest star, including Melissa McCarthy and Tina Fey for their hosting turns on “Saturday Night Live ” and Joan Cusack for her work on “Shameless“.

For a complete list of the 66th Primetime Emmy Award nominees, visit our Road to the Emmys section by clicking here.

The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards telecast airs live on Monday, August 25 at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT on NBC.